


save me from myself

by swimmingseafish



Series: Kerra Ficlets [2]
Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Eona's the heart NPC from the Weeping Isle in Caledon, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Nightmares, just making all my own character tags lmao, specifically Tiachren's
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:00:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29466150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swimmingseafish/pseuds/swimmingseafish
Summary: Rel and Kerra stay overnight on the Weeping Isle after helping the Soundless. Unfortunately, getting rid of the Court does not also get rid of nightmares.
Relationships: Relethen | Rel & Commander Kerralind | Kerra
Series: Kerra Ficlets [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2134962
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	save me from myself

Rel woke up to screams. Loud, persistent, terror-filled screams.

He jolted out of bed, throwing on a coat, and ran into Eona on his way out the door. The Soundless sylvari looked at least as frazzled as he felt.

“What’s going on?”

She shrugged, the careless motion at odds with the fear in her eyes.

“I’m not sure,” she said, beginning to walk briskly in the direction of the screams. Rel followed. “I thought at first that the Nightmare Court had come back again, but it’s not them. It’s the Valiant.”

Rel stopped dead. “It’s Kerra?”

“She woke herself up screaming and won’t stop.” Eona turned to him, pleading. “Can you help her? She won’t let any of us near.”

Without responding, he raced the rest of the way across the island to the hut where Kerra was sleeping, the screams increasing in volume as he got closer.

As soon as he stepped in the doorway, the screams stopped, and he flicked on the lamp by the door (why had no one else even turned on the damn light?). Kerra was huddled in her bed, almost hidden amidst her blankets. Her dagger was clutched tightly in her hand. Felix, Kerra’s jungle stalker, stood beside the bed, turning his head from Rel to Kerra and growling the entire time.

“…Rel?” she said in a tiny voice.

“Yes,” Rel said. “Are you all right?” Instantly, he felt like an idiot. Of course Kerra wasn’t all right, but he had no idea what else to say.

“You’re safe,” Kerra sighed. All the tension went out of her body, and her dagger dropped to the floor. Felix, now much less confused, jumped onto Kerra’s bed and plopped on her lap. Considering that he was at least three-quarters as big as she was, this didn’t work particularly well. She laughed weakly and scratched behind his ears.

“Why wouldn’t I be safe?” Rel asked, completely lost.

Kerra’s shoulders twitched upwards toward her ears, as if she were a turtle and could hide her face inside her shell. “I had a…bad dream. I thought you were in danger. I’m okay now. You can go back to sleep; it’s all right. Sorry I woke you up.” She frowned. “And Eona, and Quillyn, and probably half the island… _thorns_ , I’m so sorry.”

“Apology not accepted,” Rel said, startling a laugh out of Kerra. “What’s wrong, Ker? What happened in your dream?”

Felix turned to Rel and growled again, his hackles rising, but Kerra shushed him immediately.

“It’s okay, dearheart. He’s my friend. He’s trying to help.”

Felix growled one more time—very pointedly—and then curled back up, glaring at Rel.

Kerra took a deep breath and then said, very quickly, “IdreamtthatyouwereturnedtoNightmareandtriedtokillme.”

“Wait, what?”

The small voice was back, barely audible. “I dreamt that you were turned to Nightmare and tried to kill me. And I couldn’t save you.”

“Thorns,” Rel muttered under his breath. Louder, he said, “I’m not—I mean, I wasn’t—I’m safe, Ker. I’m here. I’m not Nightmare Court.”

She sighed. “I know. You’re not—” She cut herself off and stared down at Felix, sighing again. “I lost a friend to the Court, before I met you—Tiachren. He was trying to save his beloved. I didn’t go with him to help her because the Court was about to attack Astorea, and I needed to defend it. His beloved turned him to Nightmare instead, and…and I had to kill him.”

Felix shoved his head into Kerra’s chest, pressing as close to her as possible. She hugged him tightly.

“I’m sorry,” is all Rel could think to say.

“Apology not accepted,” Kerra said, her voice muffled by Felix’s fur. She raised her head to reveal a slightly crooked smile and shiny eyes. “You didn’t know, I chose to tell you, and my nightmares are not your fault.”

Rel smiled back, just a little. It didn’t quite reach his eyes. He tried to move closer to Kerra, but she flinched, and Felix growled, so he took a seat on the cushy desk chair by the door.

“I have nightmares, too,” he said, “more often than I’d like. Is it all right if I stay here with you? I know it helps when Nisha stays with me…”

“Yes,” Kerra said, blinking rapidly a few times. “Thank you, Rel.”

“Of course. Oh, additionally, did I ever tell you about the first time Nisha had alcohol?”

Kerra’s smile widened a fraction. “Please tell me xe didn’t get drunk.”

“Oh no, definitely not! Nisha HATED it. Xe took one sip and spat it out. The problem was, that particular drink had been purchased for xem by an off-duty member of the Lionguard, and he took personal offense to xe’s dislike of the drink. He came over to confront Nisha about it, but xe—and our friend Cio, who was there with us—had had an extremely stressful day, and they weren’t in the mood to take any bullshit, especially when xe hadn’t even asked for the drink in the first place…”

****

Several stories and a few hours later, both Rel and Kerra fell back asleep—Kerra with Felix flopped on top of her chest and Rel sitting upright in the chair, his head tilted to the side.

Eona came to check on them after calming down the other Soundless, draping a blanket over Rel to shield him from the cold. Felix woke up just a little when she came in. He blinked at her, let out a tiny meow disproportionate to his size, and tucked his head back under his paw.

She smiled and left them alone again, confident now that the Valiant and her friend would be all right. She figured that even the worst nightmares must fade with the dawn.

**Author's Note:**

> I have now made myself want to write the scene with Nisha, Rel, Cio, and the Lionguard. This was entirely by accident.
> 
> Anyways, this is one day late, but I wanted to write something for Valentine's Day and my brain generated best-friend fic, so here you go! Happy Valentine's Day!
> 
> (Rel and Kerra have known each other for about a month at this point, in case anyone's curious.)
> 
> And one final note--"Apology not accepted" is borrowed from one of my RL friends, who tells me that whenever I'm apologizing too much or unnecessarily. If you ever happen upon this, thank you; you're very appreciated <3


End file.
